Rooms overflowed as members of the House Judiciary Committee heard extensive testimony from gun violence survivors, researchers and community organizers about American gun culture and the dire need for change.
Committee Chair Rep. Kelly Breen, D- Novi, opened the hearing with a message for the audience about giving one another grace and respect as they talk through “a very emotional and highly charged issue.”
“We’re all human, parents, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors,” Breen said. “We all genuinely want to mitigate the loss and destruction that happens when firearms are involved.”
House Bill 4138 through House Bill 4148 seek to do three main things: implement safe storage laws, require universal background checks for the purchase of all firearms and create extreme risk protection orders, more commonly known as red flag laws.
The House bills mirror the Senate package which came days after the mass shooting at Michigan State University on Feb. 13, where three students were killed and another five critically injured.
The testimony Wednesday featured only proponents of the bills, though further legislative hearings are expected on the issue.
One of those proponents was Carl Austin Miller Grondin, vice president of internal administration for MSU’s undergraduate students. He spoke to the overwhelming fear himself and many other MSU students experienced that night.
“My fellow Spartans are so tired. And we’re so angry,” Grondin said. “At the end of the day, the questions of how we’re doing, the statements saying how strong we are, people calling us resilient, it’s too much to bear.”
He was not the only person impacted by the MSU shooting to testify. Sawyer McClure, president of the Interfraternity Council at Michigan State, read a letter on behalf of a longtime friend and Phi Delta Theta fraternity brother of Brian Fraser.
Fraser was one of three victims killed Feb. 13.
“He was the best friend I could have ever wanted, he was the exact person that I needed,” McClure said. “The tears now are temporary, the memories we’ve made, the conversations we had and the bond that we shared will live on in my heart forever.”
MSU students have been advocating for legislative change since their school joined the growing list of 93 reported mass shootings that have taken place in the U.S. since the beginning of the year.
As chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian presented data Wednesday on the matter, which she called a “public health issue.”
The data indicated firearm deaths disproportionately impact young adults and is the leading cause of death among children and adolescents. Firearm deaths impact all of society and reach every region of the state, she said.
“All of this evidence leads me to believe that we need to have a public health approach to gun violence,” Bagdasarian said. “We need a multimodal risk reduction strategy, which includes legislative policy.”
Another to testify in support was Moms Demand Action volunteer Ann Anderson, who said a gunman with a known history of mental illness entered her office building back in the 1990′s and used a firearm to kill three people – including himself – while wounding several others.
“I want to make it clear that regardless of whether you see the shooter or hear the shots, the act of hiding from a shooter is terrifying,” she said. “It is agony to sit there waiting to see if you get to live or die.”
Should Michigan have had extreme risk protection laws in place at the time, Anderson said she believed it would have prevented the traumatic experience by temporarily removing the gun from the shooter’s possession.
Lawmakers have a balancing act to complete, said Paul Stankewitz with the Michigan Catholic Conference. He continued by saying now is the time for lawmakers to take legislative action to end gun violence, in addition to ensuring existing laws are enforced and a citizens’ Second Amendment rights are protected.
“We need to face facts that gun violence and homicide or suicide is a burden upon our society,” Stankewitz said. “It devalues life, and it’s degrading our culture.”
Former Michigan GOP congressman Fred Upton also voiced his support for the legislation via Zoom, as well as Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.
Earlier in the day, House Speaker Joe Tate, D- Detroit, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D- Grand Rapids, and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist came together for a press conference organized by Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.
Michigan Democrats have been working on gun control legislation for years – particularly after the Oxford High School shooting in 2021 – although those attempts made no progress under the then Republican-led legislature. With Democrats now in control of all branches of state government, passing “common sense” gun reform laws have been moved to the top of their priority list.
“We have a collective responsibility,” Gilchrist said. “This is a debt that we owe right now, and we can repay right now.”
Breen stressed the bills presented during Wednesday’s House hearing are not the final product, and another hearing will take place next week to continue the conversation.
“There are multiple areas of law that’re being touched, and we want to get this right,” Breen said.
The Michigan Senate will have its first hearing on those bills in committee Thursday, March 2.
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